Recently I tried loading up the dishwasher without pre-washing and they came out just as clean. I cannot tell you how many total hours of my life and how many gallons of water I've wasted all this time pre-washing everything.

Recently I tried loading up the dishwasher without pre-washing and they came out just as clean. I cannot tell you how many total hours of my life and how many gallons of water I've wasted all this time pre-washing everything.

I've never prewashed them. Maybe it's new washing machines that get the job done better? Don't think of it as wasted. Think of all the countless hours you had smooth hands.

Why wouldn't you pre-wash your dishes? You've gotta scrub the junk off the plates/cups with a sponge -- things that the dishwasher most likely won't clean off by itself.

I figured everyone followed this method.

My in-laws have a Maytag that requires no prewashing. They put all their dishes and pots in without rinsing anything and they always come out squeaky clean and sparkling. Modern high end dishwashers with a stainless steel tub do an amazing job. Unlike the piece if crap contractor grade GE I currently have.

With my brand new, terrible dishwasher (thank you, whomever furnished these apartment kitchens - the fridge sucks too) you must pre-wash, or everything is coming to come out looking like it did when you put it in.

Moral of the story - if you have a decent dishwasher, you can be lazy. Otherwise, grab a sponge.

I don't understand why you would have a dishwasher if you're going to prewash your dishes. Surely the point of having one is so that you don't have to wash up? I just run stuff quickly under the tap so that the big bits are off and then whack them in.

You wouldn't prewash your clothes before sticking them in the washing machine would you......or would you?

My wife grew up with an industrial-grade dishwasher in her house, so they put anything and everything in there without even a rinse.

I've had to "train" her to at least remove the big bits. We have a standard contractor-grade unit in our town home. It does a good job, but it won't remove glued-on dried scum off of a heavily-loaded unit.

We do a little bit of pre-rinse, but not nearly as much as I used to.

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Our dishwasher does a pretty good job, but I still scrape plates into the trash and then pre-rinse to put any left over "big stuff" in the garbage disposal. I figure a quick rinse is better than a repair bill for a jacked up dishwasher. I'm probably being over cautious, but oh well, that's just my routine.

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We just scrape the big bits off, and dump them. If the plates are terribly bad, the dishwasher still takes care of them. We don't put pots in though. Mostly because we will likely need the pot to cook with before it comes out of the dishwasher.

If I had to pre-wash dishes first, I'd get a new dishwasher. The whole point is to not have to wash them at all. Though I do remember my parents old dishwasher needed plates to be practically clean before using it. But that was in the 1970s. Now, any decent dishwasher should be able clean a stuff straight from the table, imo.

__________________My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - Jack Layton

__________________The rising People, hot and out of breath,
Roared round the palace: "Liberty or death!"
"If death will do," the King said, "let me reign;
You'll have, I'm sure, no reason to complain."

I don't understand why you would have a dishwasher if you're going to prewash your dishes. Surely the point of having one is so that you don't have to wash up? I just run stuff quickly under the tap so that the big bits are off and then whack them in.

You wouldn't prewash your clothes before sticking them in the washing machine would you......or would you?

As my dad likes to say, dish washers are not disposals, they are sanitizers

I always take out the left over food with just water only. So it looks clean, except it isn't. But you can't see anything. Not sure if its necessary or not, but I don't think my dishwasher is strong enough.